Attachable Sleeves - 1640 - 1722

In 1667, New York City, Madam Cornelia de Vos was seen wearing...


                                             “…, a pair of red and yellow sleeves,…”

Ms. de Vos's "red and yellow sleeves" turn up both in an "as seen" court record but also in her probate inventory. Both "waistcoats" and "mantels" with attachable sleeves were commonly used by farmers, traders, crafts people and even merchants of different status levels for the entirety of the 17th Century and into the 18th Century. Of the probate inventories in my database; there are 36 pairs of sleeves, with one particular 1640 inventory demonstrating the practical nature of New Netherland wardrobes with a number of doubles, waistcoats and mantels with attachable sleeves; whereas the 1641 and 1646 inventories sampled below also include furred jackets, robes and other garments reflective of farmers a bit more well off. Nevertheless, farmers, trades and crafts people regardless of wealth were wearing waistcoats with attachable sleeves.


1640, Female, Fort Amsterdam, (Manhattan) Tobacco Farmers (5 or more pairs of sleeves)

2 pairs of sleeves; 1 pair of woolen yarn, 1 pair of damask,
4 little mantles, one of them with fur,
2 pairs of white sleeves,
(?) pairs of yellow sleeves

Sleeves come in a variety of colors with some being patterned. They show up in mostly women's but also in men's and children's list of clothes. Some fashion historians tend to define a "waistcoat" as always having attached sleeves, and this tends to be true for some nations or regions. But primary sources show that the opposite can be true for other nations and regions. This is a great example of why research in one town, city or region can not be wholly (100% or always) applied to another town, city or region. They can over lap and we will see this in a later post when we look at New England and New Netherland as there are items that clearly overlap, some are adopted across ethnic lines and others only have "comparables". Below cropping of painting by Gabriel Metsu - Das Bohnenfest. Link.

1641, Female, Pavonia, (New Jersey) She is a sheep farmer and married to a Dutch WIC employee, (2 pairs)


1 undershirt of woolen yarn,
1 pair of damask sleeves, half worn,
1 little black vest with two sleeves


1646, Female, Albany, Crops and Dairy Farmer, (2 pair)

1 little black silk mantle with a pair of sleeves,
1 pair of old sleeves



During the first half of the century, the attached sleeves are associated with Jackets and Mantels, but later it is not obvious. It may be because waistcoats and bodices also had sleeves. Cropping of painting by Gerard ter Borch (Dutch, 1617–1681), about 1650/51. Link. 

The wearing of jackets with attachable sleeves continues into the 1690s and through to the 1720s. They can be very colorful and came in a variety of fabrics:


1702, Male, Merchant, NYC - To one old “Coats”, waistcoats without “sleaves” 000:7:6

1722, Female, Shop Keeper, NYC - 7 prs woman's sleeves 5.3


Of the 36 pairs of sleeves in New Netherland and later New York; 6 inventories had only one pair, 3 inventories had two pairs and two inventories had 3 pairs; the remainder had 5 or more pairs of sleeves. There was no correlation between having 1, 2 or 3 pairs based on decade or time frame. The inventories range from Manhattan to Kingston (Wiltwijk) to Albany, and span 1640 to 1722. 

Did you say PEARLS !

When the first women arrive in New Netherland in 1624, they brought quality textiles and other goods with them, but pearls don't seem to one of them. I know, I know... they had other things on their mind. However, within two decades pearls were showing up in early documents and never stop arriving.

Pearls do not appear in inventories, but there is a likely reason for this, as they are the perfect gift for mothers to bestow on daughters when they marry. Marriage gifts were an easy way around coverture laws and any estate taxes. (We'll get into this more later.) The first sign of pearls occurs in 1644, "Laurens Cornelissen persists in his statement that he received a box of pearls from the honorable director, but can not prove the same here,... in case of refusal, he shall be banished from this country until he prove at Amsterdam that he brought over pearls for the honorable director." In 1648, power of attorney and a purchase order was made by Frederick Lubbersen and given to Claes Jansen for pick up in Amsterdam which included two pearls for 20 florin (20 guilders).

Another 1648 account that mentioned pearls is as follows,
"Hendrick van Dyck, fiscal, ex officio plaintiff against the crew of the yacht De Cat, for the recovery of some pieces of eight and a few pearls which they secured in capturing the bark Nostra Senora Bosarlo and divided among themselves. The fiscal, instituting his action in writing, demands restitution of the aforesaid pieces of eight and pearls, maintaining that they are not plunder."- Link to New Netherland Institute

However, it was the next decade that a wave of pearls arrived in the colony. Large merchants and smaller "Pearl Peddlers" (as the Curacao record keeper called them) were looking for ready markets. An account left by Mr. Josua and Mordakay En' riques in January of 1656 which includes "100 pairs of pearl earrings", and "17 Bundles of pearls from "Venesia" of 10 strands each bundle" being stored in Curacao. We don't know where all the pearls ended up, but we know some made it to New Netherland.

The first shipment is loaded and sent in 1656 and a second in 1659 with a total of "7 pairs of Venetian pendants" and "28 bunches of Venetian pearls [ 10 strands each bunch ]". Captain Beaulieu leaves Curacao in the Caribbean and sails to New Netherland with a stop off in Virginia on the way. Unfortunately, we don't know how many of the bunches of pearls were sold in Virginia prior to arriving in New Netherland, but it is likely that all the pairs of pendents made it to the colony - as Venetian pendants require pierced ears. In addition to the pearl pendents, we have to remember that after the English seize control of Manhattan and Beverwijk (Albany) in 1664, trade went underground. The ships were suppose to leave Europe and head north to England to pay taxes before going to New York; they sometimes instead went south, sailed across the Atlantic to Curacao or other Dutch or French Islands. Then they sailed back north along the American coats. Plus, there was the trade coming down from French Canada into northern New York area around Albany.


Invoice January 1656 left by Mordakay En' riques
100 pairs of pearl earrings,
17 Bundles of pearls from Venesia of 10 strands each bundle


The below is a cropping of the original document which is found on the "New Netherland Institutes" website. Please check out their site it is a wealth of early 17th Century information including info from archeological digs. I am very grateful for the work and cost it took to bring these documents for FREE to the public ! New Netherland Institute Website link







Between January and May, eleven more bunches of pearls are added onto the Captain's account than were in the Mordakay En' riques invoice. So, we can see that the Captain - who is referred to as a "Pearl Peddler" - had more than one source of pearl suppliers


Received on Ship October 1656 - Arrives New Netherland May 1657
7 pairs of Venetian pendants, 5 pair at 3 gl. a piece, f. 15,00,00
28 bunches of Venetian pearls [10 strain per bunch], 2 bunches at 15 gl. [guilders] a bunch


Are you thinking what I am thinking? With this volume of pearls coming into the colony a fair number of women had the opportunity to purchase them with beaver pelts, sea-wan or other goods, as cash was not necessary.

Assuming the "pearl peddler" restricted purchase to one strand of pearls per customer, what percentage of the population may of purchased a strand? Notes: Total population of New Netherland was between 2,000 to 3,000 or about 1,000 to 1,750 females of various ages in 1655.

While pearls were the ornament (and investment) for both middle and merchant class, red corral and other semi-precious gems were the go to necklace for the working and also middle class. But in New Netherland and later New York, pearls could be purchased with more than just cash, as beavers, sea-wan and other goods could also purchase pearls. However, it is actually rather difficult to find women wearing their ear pendents and pearl necklaces in non-portrait depictions. While at home or at market most paintings show a woman with a scarf and ears covered.

Though...It seems that if you believe your man is about to announce his love... you are suppose to throw on a string a pearls, pull out something to read and ignore him. Below Painting, Cropping of "Man announcing is love."





Of course pearls are for weddings, here the woman sits looking at the new couple entering the tavern. You can see her pearl drop earrings on the woman nursing a baby. Cropping of a painting by the artist Jean Steen (1626 1679) "La fiancée trust , Vienne. Kunsthistorisches Museum Jan Steen.





Or if you need to write a letter, first throw on a pair of pearl pendents and brooch, then get to work. Cropping of Vermeer's, Woman writing a letter.






One last item found in primary sources are the correspondences to Anna Van Rensselaer, from family back in Holland. A number of items had been sent over by various family members with the intention of having Van Rensselaer "trade" them for beaver or merchandise that then could be sent back to Holland. One of the items to arrive between 1651 and 1656 were "crescents with pearls" from sister-in-law Hillegonda. We don't know how many were sent, but the phrase is plural. The crescents with pearls were having a difficult time being sold near Beverwijk (Albany and Hudson Valley region of NY) due to their high cost, and due to the drop in value of beavers in Holland. Later, a letter explains that the merchandise would be sold at a discount in order to move the goods. According to notes by the translator about the correspondences, on the same page, it is thought that these "halve mane met parle" are part of a headdress common or related to ones in Friesland. Whether these "half moons with pearls" were headdress pendents or another type of pendants is unknown, but they did exist.